Presidents’ Lincoln Comes to Rest at the Nixon Library

It’s been all over the world--32 countries to be exact--shuttling American presidents and foreign dignitaries to and from historic meetings. And though it has been retired from service for nearly 20 years, President Richard Nixon’s limousine made one final journey to Yorba Linda on Monday.

Accompanied by a roaring police detail and a pair of blue-suited Secret Service agents perched on the rear bumper, the 1967 Lincoln Continental was delivered to the steps of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace.

Not that this car needs that much protection. Sleek and stylish, its looks belie the fact that it is equal parts tank and sedan.

With more than 4,000 pounds of armor plating, bulletproof glass and a bubble top thicker than the protective cockpit of an F-16 fighter plane, it was at the time one of the safest vehicles ever built--and the most expensive.

It cost the Ford Motor Co. an estimated $500,000 to build the car. The company leased it to the White House for $1 a year.

Dozens of presidential history buffs and some car lovers endured blazing midday heat Monday for the chance to peek at the interior or sit in the seats that carried four presidents to important destinations.

“It brings it all back to life,” said Jim Humpert, 51, of Irvine.

A car designer for Chrysler in Detroit for many years, Humpert said he has seen lots of presidential limos, but this one was of particular interest to him because Nixon was the only president who ever shook his hand.

“It’s a part of history,” he said.

The limousine was originally designed for Lyndon Johnson, whose preferred mode of transportation was a Lincoln Continental sedan. He liked them white and convertible, but concerns for protocol and safety dictated that this car would be black and have a hardtop.

Nixon inherited the car when he was elected president in 1968. It was passed on to Presidents Ford and Carter, who used it for quick trips around the nation’s capital and state visits to destinations abroad.

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Ford Motor Co. restored the limo to its original splendor earlier this year and decided to donate it to the Nixon library because the 37th president took it with him on some of his most historic journeys, including his first trip to China and several trips to the Soviet Union. The vehicle will remain on display in a garden next to Nixon’s boyhood home until a permanent, indoor location at the Nixon library is chosen.

Peter J. Pestillo, executive vice president at Ford, said the car became something of a traveling Roosevelt Room for Nixon. He sometimes held meetings in the limousine with Henry Kissinger while the two were in the Soviet Union because it was the only place he could be sure he wasn’t being bugged.

“We at Ford had a warm history with President Nixon,” said Pestillo, recalling that Nixon gave Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev a Lincoln Continental sedan during a visit. “I think it’s fitting it be here with the president.”

With security concerns heightened in the aftermath of President Kennedy’s assassination, the limousine was built to be the ultimate getaway car.

Outfitted with a 340-horsepower, V-8 engine, it can travel up to 100 miles per hour despite weighing in at a hefty 11,000 pounds. Special steel discs inside the tires will allow the car to travel 50 mph even if all four tires are flattened by gunfire.

“It has no weapons so it can’t shoot back,” Pestillo said. “But it can certainly get away.”